Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk

Aircraft Information
> Aircraft Make: Sikorsky. Model: UH-60 Nickname: Blackhawk
> Aircraft Mil Civ Description: Helicopter
> FAA Category and Class: Rotorcraft/Helicopter
> Engine Description: Twin turboshaft

Aircraft Experience
> As of: 11/7/2024
> Number of Hours Flown: 10
> Number of Times Flown: 8
> Other Aircraft Models Associated: HH-60, H-60

First Flown Information
> Sequence First Flown: 19
> Date First Flown: 2/12/1986
> Location First Flown: NAS Patuxent River, MD (KNHK)
> Who and/or What Organization First Flown With: USNTPS, Jack Lawrence (senior class; Class 89)

Recollections: Here’s another (for me) first, conducted with Jack Lawrence, with whom I’d flown my first helo flight in an OH-58.  Jack, in my senior class, and clearly recognizing a needy, desparate but enthusiastic “helo wannabe”, took me on my first flight in a blackhawk.  Little would he have predicted that I’d continue flying them after my Navy career, and then as an FAA Test Pilot.  Most recent project was an NVG cert in 2023 for a unit specifically setup to fight fires as a result of a settlement from a California Electric Company.  Not a lot of flying, but enough.

The Blackhawk, with all of it’s artificial stability control, was WAY easier to fly than the OH-58.  More complex cockpit, for sure, but easier cyclic and pedal flying. 

What a tremendous and successful design, which continues to this day not only in the military (all branches) but in the civilian world as well, everything from security to firefighting.